Taco Tuesday

Taco Tuesday is a custom, mainly in the United States, of eating tacos or offering taco specials on Tuesdays; the phrase was a registered trademark of the Wyoming-based chain Taco John's from 1989 until the company abandoned it in July 2023 after a challenge by Taco Bell.

Origins

Promotions offering tacos at special prices on Tuesdays are much older than any trademark. Wikipedia, drawing on research by Gustavo Arellano, reports that the phrase was advertised as early as 1933. The custom spread through restaurants and bars across the United States and became a fixture of American food culture and family dinners.

The trademarks

Taco John's, a regional fast-food chain based in Wyoming, held a federal trademark on Taco Tuesday from 1989, covering every state except New Jersey, according to CNN's reporting. The company used the phrase in its marketing and sent cease-and-desist letters to restaurants that used it. In New Jersey, the rights belonged to Gregory's Restaurant & Bar in Somers Point, which according to Wikipedia began its own Tuesday taco promotion in 1979 and registered the phrase as a state trademark in 1982.

In 2019 the basketball player LeBron James applied to trademark the phrase through his company; Wikipedia, citing The New York Times, reports that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused the application on the grounds that the phrase was a commonplace expression.

The 2023 dispute

In May 2023 Taco Bell petitioned the Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the Taco John's registration, arguing that the phrase should be freely available to everyone who makes, sells, eats and celebrates tacos. On July 18, 2023, Taco John's announced that it would abandon its defense of the trademark rather than pay legal costs to fight a much larger company. Chief executive Jim Creel said that spending millions of dollars on lawyers did not feel like the right thing to do, and the chain pledged a donation of 40,000 dollars, 100 dollars for each of its roughly 400 restaurants, to a charity supporting restaurant workers' families. A trademark lawyer quoted by CNN said the decision was unsurprising given how common the phrase had become. Later in 2023, according to Wikipedia, Gregory's also gave up its New Jersey mark, leaving the phrase free across the country.

Significance

The dispute is often cited as an example of a trademark weakened by everyday use. In Mexico, where tacos are eaten every day of the week, the custom has no particular equivalent; Mexico instead celebrates a Día del Taco each March 31.

Reviews

See also

• National Taco Day
• Taco
• History of the taco
• Taquería

References

1. "The battle for the 'Taco Tuesday' trademark is over". WISH-TV (CNN Business). Retrieved 2026-10-10.
2. "Taco Tuesday". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
3. "Día del Taco 2026: todo lo que debes saber del platillo más querido de México". Selecciones (Reader's Digest México). Retrieved 2026-10-10.